Holocene glacier change in the Silvretta Massif (Austrian Alps) constrained by a new 10Be chronology, historical records and modern observations

Braumann, Sandra M.; Schaefer, Joerg M.; Neuhuber, Stephanie; Reitner, Jürgen M.; Lüthgens, Christopher; Fiebig, Markus

doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106493

Cited by 24 publications

(41 citation statements)

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“…In a few recent studies this pattern of moraine deposition has been confirmed in the Eastern Alpine region (Bichler et al, 2016;Moran et al, 2016aMoran et al, , 2017. The youngest dated EH moraine is located in the Ochsental, a valley adjacent to the sites discussed in this study (Braumann et al, 2020). The relevance of this chronology lies in the finding that glaciers in the valley had melted back to historical sizes around 10 ka and that they have remained within these limits throughout the Holocene, which is consistent with complementary paleoproxy records from the Eastern Alps (e.g., Dietre et al, 2014;Nicolussi and Patzelt, 2000;Patzelt, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 75%

“…These geomorphological features promise insights into repeated Holocene cooling at times when glaciers were larger than during the LIA. Second, in addition to comparable cosmogenic nuclide records in the region (Braumann et al, 2020;Moran et al, 2016b), high-quality paleoenvironmental, archeological, and historical information on Holocene climate, which complements the moraine record, is available (Dietre et al, 2014;Kasper, 2015Kasper, , 2013Nicolussi, 2010;Patzelt, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Early Holocene cold snaps and their expression in the moraine record of the eastern European Alps

et al. 2021

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Abstract. Glaciers preserve climate variations in their geological and geomorphological records, which makes them prime candidates for climate reconstructions. Investigating the glacier–climate system over the past millennia is particularly relevant first because the amplitude and frequency of natural climate variability during the Holocene provides the climatic context against which modern, human-induced climate change must be assessed. Second, the transition from the last glacial to the current interglacial promises important insights into the climate system during warming, which is of particular interest with respect to ongoing climate change. Evidence of stable ice margin positions that record cooling during the past 12 kyr are preserved in two glaciated valleys of the Silvretta Massif in the eastern European Alps, the Jamtal (JAM) and the Laraintal (LAR). We mapped and dated moraines in these catchments including historical ridges using beryllium-10 surface exposure dating (10Be SED) techniques and correlate resulting moraine formation intervals with climate proxy records to evaluate the spatial and temporal scale of these cold phases. The new geochronologies indicate the formation of moraines during the early Holocene (EH), ca. 11.0 ± 0.7 ka (n = 19). Boulder ages along historical moraines (n = 6) suggest at least two glacier advances during the Little Ice Age (LIA; ca. 1250–1850 CE) around 1300 CE and in the second half of the 18th century. An earlier advance to the same position may have occurred around 500 CE. The Jamtal and Laraintal moraine chronologies provide evidence that millennial-scale EH warming was superimposed by centennial-scale cooling. The timing of EH moraine formation coincides with brief temperature drops identified in local and regional paleoproxy records, most prominently with the Preboreal Oscillation (PBO) and is consistent with moraine deposition in other catchments in the European Alps and in the Arctic region. This consistency points to cooling beyond the local scale and therefore a regional or even hemispheric climate driver. Freshwater input sourced from the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS), which changed circulation patterns in the North Atlantic, is a plausible explanation for EH cooling and moraine formation in the Nordic region and in Europe.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 75%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early Holocene cold snaps and their expression in the moraine record of the eastern European Alps

et al. 2021

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“…As well-shielded – from cosmic rays – beryllium minerals like beryl were measured lower as 1.7 × 10 −15 [2] , experienced scientists have therefore produced their own 9 Be carrier solution from those minerals (e.g., [3] , [4] , [5] ). Only this way samples with lowest 10 Be concentrations could have been successfully measured above background and led to exceptional research work such as the reconstruction of glacier changes by surface exposure or - combined with 26 Al data - burial dating (e.g., [ [6] , [7] , [8] , [9] , [10] – 11 ]). Two more examples are the 10 Be dating of a boulder from a medieval rock fall triggered by an earthquake [12] and the determination of stellar and thermal neutron capture cross sections of 9 Be [13] .…”

Section: Methods Detailsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Which is the best 9Be carrier for 10Be/9Be accelerator mass spectrometry?

et al. 2021

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Commercial 9 Be solutions used for chemical preparation of samples for accelerator mass spectrometry contain the cosmogenic long-lived radionuclide 10 Be at elevated but different 10 Be/ 9 Be levels. Within a systematic study of recently produced solutions, comparison to published data and new data on customised solutions from minerals, we recommend - if no customised solution is available - the 9 Be solutions from Australian Chemical Reagents (ACR) or from LGC. They contain 10 Be/ 9 Be at the 3.4 × 10 −15 level, which is still suitable for the majority of Earth science applications, compared to customised solutions at the 10 −16 level for lowest-level studies. Commercial solutions from Scharlab having different lot numbers, i.e. an identification number assigned to a particular lot of material from a single manufacturer, vary in 10 Be/ 9 Be by up to a factor of nine. Hence, it seems an advisable strategy to buy a bigger quantity of a single production batch (such as 10 × 100 ml bottles of 9 Be at 1 g l −1 ) and have them tested once at any AMS facility before first use. The best 9 Be carrier for low-level 10 Be/ 9 Be applications is a customised one from minerals like phenakite. The best 9 Be carriers for medium- and high-level 10 Be/ 9 Be applications are currently from Australian Chemical Reagents (ACR) or from LGC. As 9 Be carriers from Scharlab of different batches (LOT) contain 10 Be/ 9 Be at different levels, it is advisable to buy a bigger number of bottles of the same LOT of commercial carriers after being identified to have reasonably low isotope ratios.

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“…This can be done by analysing the seasonality of the amount of run-off (e.g. Brighenti et al, 2019), chemical composition, and ecological properties (e.g. Tolotti et al, 2020), as well as by isotope analysis of the meltwater (e.g.…”

Section: Challenges For Mapping Area Changes In Disintegrating Glaciersmentioning

confidence: 99%

High-resolution inventory to capture glacier disintegration in the Austrian Silvretta

et al. 2021

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Abstract. A new high-resolution glacier inventory captures the rapid decay of the glaciers in the Austrian Silvretta for the years 2017 and 2018. Identifying the glacier outlines offers a wide range of possible interpretations of glaciers that have evolved into small and now totally debris-covered cryogenic structures. In previous inventories, a high proportion of active bare ice allowed a clear delineation of the glacier margins even by optical imagery. In contrast, in the current state of the glacier only the patterns and amounts of volume change allow us to estimate the area of the buried glacier remnants. We mapped the glacier outlines manually based on lidar elevation models and patterns of volume change at 1 to 0.5 m spatial resolution. The vertical accuracy of the digital elevation models (DEMs) generated from six to eight lidar points per square metre is of the order of centimetres. Between 2004/2006 and 2017/2018, the 46 glaciers of the Austrian Silvretta lost −29 ± 4 % of their area and now cover 13.1 ± 0.4 km2. This is only 32 ± 2 % of their Little Ice Age (LIA) extent of 40.9 ± 4.1 km2. The area change rate increased from 0.6 %/yr (1969–2002) to −2.4 %/yr (2004/2006–2017/2018). The Sentinel-2-based glacier inventory of 2018 deviates by just 1 % of the area. The annual geodetic mass balance referring to the area at the beginning of the period showed a loss increasing from −0.2 ± 0.1 m w.e./yr (1969–2002) to −0.8 ± 0.1 m w.e./yr (2004/2006–2017/2018) with an interim peak in 2002–2004/2006 of −1.5 ± 0.7 m w.e./yr. To keep track of the buried ice and its fate and to distinguish increasing debris cover from ice loss, we recommend inventory repeat frequencies of 3 to 5 years and surface elevation data with a spatial resolution of 1 m.

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Holocene glacier change in the Silvretta Massif (Austrian Alps) constrained by a new 10Be chronology, historical records and modern observations

Cited by 24 publications

References 124 publications

Early Holocene cold snaps and their expression in the moraine record of the eastern European Alps

Early Holocene cold snaps and their expression in the moraine record of the eastern European Alps

Which is the best 9Be carrier for 10Be/9Be accelerator mass spectrometry?

High-resolution inventory to capture glacier disintegration in the Austrian Silvretta

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